RockOnTheNet
presents The Top Pop Songs
Of All Time !
We have ranked the top pop songs that have charted over the past
50+ years on The ARC Weekly Top 40 and Billboard Hot 100, and
come up with
a definitive list that will continue to expand as we add to it,
and continue to modify as new songs chart on The ARC Weekly Top
40.

"Sometimes
I think we've become totally redundant
because we're this big band now, we've made a
lot of money - we're not punk rock any more.
But then I think about it and just say 'You
can take us out of a punk rock environment,
but you can't take the punk rock out of us.'" - Billie Joe
Armstrong, Green Day, 2005

TIMELINE

Green Day consists of
childhood friends Billie Joe Armstrong (guitars,
vocals) and Mike Dirnt (bass), along with Tre
Cool (drums). The band got started in California
when Armstrong and Dirnt formed a band named
'Sweet Children' while in their teens. When
drummer, Al Sobrante (also known as John
Kiffmeyer), was added to the mix in 1989, Green
Day was formed (Tre Cool became the band's
permanent drummer after the release of their
first EP and after Sobrante decided to go to
college). Green Day is often credited with some
other similar groups for reviving interest in
punk rock music. In a review of one of their LPs,
Green Day was summed up by a Rolling Stone's
Mark Coleman: "The beauty of classic punk
rock lies in its utter simplicity: Crude rhythms,
rude attitude, pumping adrenaline and a loudly
pronounced point of view are key. Once you get
sucked in by that formula, any punk band sounds
good at first - because the musical rush is so
basic, familiar and overwhelming. That's also the
reason most punk bands - and records - ultimately
turn out to be crap. In punk the good stuff
actually unfolds and gains meaning as you listen
without sacrificing any of its electric, haywire
immediacy. And Green Day are a good as this stuff
gets.

February 1: Green Day released Dookie(available for
download at iTunes and Amazon-mp3). The LP was recorded in 3
weeks and was the band's first release on a major
label - Reprise Records. The LP hit #1 in
Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, and the Top
10 in the US, Finland, and Sweden.

June 11: Green Day topped the
Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart for 1 week
with "Longview."

October 14: Green Day released Nimrod(available for
download at iTunes and Amazon-mp3). The LP, considered
'experimental' and a shift from Green Day's
typical sound, hit the Top 10 in the US,
Australia, and Canada.

November 11: Green Day performed a 40
minute set at Tower Records in New York City in
support of their latest LP, Nimrod, and then reportedly
trashed the place to the tune of $50,000. Billy
Joe Armstrong proclaimed: "You can start a
riot... 'cause you're not at Tower Records,
you're at a Green Day concert." The band's
antics included mooning the crowd of over 500,
spray-painting a profanity on the store windows,
pouring beer on CD racks, and attempting to throw
heavy rental musical equipment over a ledge. The
store manager told MTV that "...almost all
the damage was done by the band." There were
no injuries and fans did not part-take in the
ruckus. The band was suppose to sign their LPs
after the performance, but the record store
cancelled that part of the event in order to
clean up the store. No charges were filed against
the band and the band will most likely not be
asked back to the store.

June 22: At a Los Angeles radio
station festival, the bassist for Green Day and
the bassist for Third
Eye Blind reportedly got into a scuffle that
resulted in scull injury and concert
cancellation. Reports stated: Salazer of Third
Eye Blind appeared on stage during Green
Day's set and was kicked by Dirnt of Green Day
after being tackled by security guards and later,
Salazer hit Dirnt in the head with a beer bottle
resulting in a skull fracture. Other reports
state a fan hit Dirnt with the beer bottle.
Salazer later stated: "I am sorry that my
attempt at doing something I thought would be
funny escalated into Mike getting hurt. That was
never my intention. I simply had too much to
drink and made a very bad decision..." Green
Day cancelled a concert in Sacramento the next
night.

January 5: Armstrong was arrested in
California for driving under the influence after
being pulled over for speeding. He was arrested
after failing a sobriety test and released from
jail the following morning.

February 21: Green Day topped the
Billboard Digital Tracks chart for 1 week with
"I Fought The Law."

September 21: Green Day released American
Idiot(available for download at iTunes and Amazon-mp3). The LP was the band's
efforts of creating a 'punk rock opera' following
the life of a character named 'Jesus of Suburbia'
and became their first #1 LP in the US.

September 25: Green Day topped the
Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart for 6 weeks
with "American Idiot."

October 9: Green Day topped the
Billboard 200 LP chart for 3 non-consecutive
weeks with American
Idiot.
The LP sold over 267,000 copies its first week of
release in the US. The LP also topped the charts
in Australia, Austria, Canada, Norway, Sweden,
Switzerland, Ireland and the UK, and hit the Top
10 in Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy,
Japan, New Zealand, and Holland.

November 15: Green Day released the
live CD/DVD Bullet
In A Bible (available for download at iTunes and Amazon-mp3). The set included live
performances from the UK recorded on June 18th
and 19th to over 130,000 people. The LP hit the
Top 10 in the US, Australia, Canada, Ireland, New
Zealand, and the UK.

May 30: Green Day topped the
Billboard 200 LP chart for 1 week, Top Rock
Albums chart for 3 weeks, Top Alternative Albums
chart for 3 weeks, and Top Digital Albums chart
for 1 week with 21st
Century Breakdown. The LP sold over 215,000 copies
its first week of release in the US. Green Day's
sales of 21st
Century Breakdownwere even more impressive
considering the LP was not found in Wal-Mart
because the band refused to edit the LP and the
chain does not carry music with parental advisory
stickers. The band stated: "There's nothing
dirty about our record... They want artists to
censor their records in order to be carried in
there. We just said no. We've never done it
before. You feel like you're in 1953 or
something." The LP also topped the charts in
Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan,
Norway, Spain, Switzerland, the UK, and New
Zealand, and hit the Top 10 in Finland, Hungary,
Ireland, Poland, Portugal, and the Netherlands.

March 22: Green Day released the
live CD/DVD Awesome
As F*** (available for download at iTunes and Amazon.mp3). The set included
performances from the '21st Century Breakdown
World Tour' of 2009 and 2010. The LP topped the
charts in Argentina, and hit the Top 10 in
Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece,
Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Spain,
Sweden, and Italy.

January 29: The live LP On
The Radio was released. The set included
performances from May 28, 1992 in New Jersey for
a radio station.

August 4: Green Day topped the
Billboard Rock Songs chart with "Oh
Love."

September 23: It was announced that
Armstrong would be heading to a treatment
facility for substance abuse. The announcement
came after the band performed at the iHeartRadio
Music Festival in Las Vegas, and Armstrong had a
'meltdown' on stage when they ran out of time to
perform.

Note: Song title and position
links lead you to the song's ARC Weekly Top 40 chart run, LP links take
you to Amazon.com for that LP's info (often
including track listings and track samples), and
single cover art takes you to Amazon.com for that CD single (if
available). Songs charting prior to 1980 have
information from Billboard magazine.